Jason Project Will Go On Without Lost Sub

Plans for an educational underwater exploration of the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador are still afloat, even though the robot submarine used for the expedition isn't.

"Private sources" have donated satellite and television equipment, and underwater robot cameras to the Jason Foundation for Education to replace similar equipment that sank with a barge 400 miles off the Ecuadorean coast Thursday.

Jason program officials said yesterday that the educational mission has taken precedence over the loss, and 500,000 students across North America may still have a chance to interact with explorers in the Galapagos Islands starting next Tuesday.

Students at 20 satellite-linked sites -- including Lehigh University's Grace Hall --are planning to interact with the Jason team as it explores a region Charles Darwin used "as part of his laboratory for the theory of evolution."

"As of today we have assembled the necessary equipment to do the live broadcast," said Tim Armour, director of the Jason Foundation. "What we are working on frantically today is the necessary transportation to get it down to the Galapagos Islands.

"Chances are much better today, but we are still not there," said Armour. "I'd say there is about an 85 percent chance" of the team doing a live broadcast.

Armour said members within the foundation have asked the Unites States Air Force to lend a transport plane to whisk the equipment to the explorers near Baltra, 600 miles west of the Ecuador coast. Armour said he was not sure how the Air Force became involved in rescuing the program, but said assistance nationally "has made all the difference in the world."

Jason spokeswoman Becky Squires said the educational mission is, at least for now, more important than what caused the barge to sink, or even retrieving Jason Jr., the remote-control submarine that may have sunk nearly two miles.

"There are 500,000 students across the country that have been studying the Galapagos Islands for the last six weeks and looking forward to this broadcast," said Squires.

Squires said pursuing the exploration will "show them live science and discovery as it happens; to have setbacks and enormous sacrifices; and still continue with the mission."

"Jason Jr. is fine," said Squires. "He's supposed to be on the bottom of the ocean. As for the rest of the equipment, I don't see how it could be salvageable. The equipment for broadcasting and satellite links wasn't made to be immersed. I'm sure it's ruined."

Squires said the Ecuadorian Navy and the insurance carriers that covered the equipment will investigate why the barge sank Thursday. No one was hurt.